Weird outdoor & roadside things to do in Colorado Springs

Looking for weird outdoor & roadside oddities in Colorado Springs? These 16 are the genuinely strange ones — Rainbow Falls ("Graffiti Falls"), Green Mountain Falls Skyspace, Rita the Rock Planter and more — each hand-vetted and sourced, not pulled from a top-ten list. Great for an unusual date, a weird afternoon, or showing a visitor the side of Colorado Springs they'd never find on their own.

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Rainbow Falls ("Graffiti Falls") A 45-foot waterfall on Fountain Creek tucked under a road bridge off Serpentine Drive, its canyon walls coate… Manitou Springs
Green Mountain Falls Skyspace A permanent James Turrell "Skyspace" perched on Red Butte Mountain — a chamber with an oculus open to the sky… Green Mountain Falls
Rita the Rock Planter A 21-foot troll built entirely from recycled wood by Danish artist Thomas Dambo, hidden up a short trail near… Victor
Palmer Lake Star Hand-built by volunteers in 1935 to lift Depression-era spirits, the Palmer Lake Star is a 457-foot-wide, fiv… Palmer Lake
A Sanctuary Center A Sanctuary Center is a free, volunteer-maintained nonprofit sacred garden open sunrise to sunset daily, feat… Sedalia
Devil's Head Lookout Devil's Head is Colorado's last staffed fire lookout — a working ranger mans the historic 1912 tower from rou… Sedalia
Cripple Creek Wild Donkey Herd When the gold mines shut down around 1901, the miners just... left. Their pack burros stayed, and the descend… Cripple Creek
Horsethief Falls Trail Almost everyone driving Hwy 67 toward the Cripple Creek casinos blows right past the old railroad tunnel that… Pike National Forest, between Divide and Cripple Creek (Pikes Peak west side)
Pancake Rocks Trail Everyone at this trailhead is going to Horsethief Falls — the easy mile-and-a-bit to a waterfall. Almost nobo… Divide / Pikes Peak region (Pike National Forest)
Heizer Trail to Cascade Mountain Everyone in this town hikes Barr Trail, then complains about the crowds. Almost nobody walks the Heizer — a s… Cascade / Manitou backcountry, off US 24 west of Manitou Springs
Paradise Cove / Guffey Gorge Swimming Hole Most people blow right past the Guffey turnoff on the way to somewhere flashier, which is exactly why this wo… Guffey / Cripple Creek area (south of Divide), Colorado
Red Rocks Trail Loop (Woodland Park) Everyone within an hour of Colorado Springs has done Garden of the Gods. Almost nobody has done its quieter t… Woodland Park / Pike National Forest
Petrified Forest Loop at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument Most people blow past Florissant on the way to a bigger peak, which is exactly why this works. Thirty-five mi… Florissant (northwest of Cripple Creek)
Paint Mines Interpretive Park (Hoodoos) Most people picture hoodoos in Utah, not 45 minutes east of Colorado Springs on the high plains. But out past… Calhan (45 min east of Colorado Springs)
Iscariot (Octo-Maid) A 12-foot metal sculpture of a woman fused with an octopus-mermaid hybrid — gills, fins, and tentacles — perc… Downtown Colorado Springs
Van Briggle Memorial Pottery Building Most people drive past this 1907 building near Monument Valley Park without realizing they're looking at one… Westside / Monument Valley Park